Guest blogger: Elliott Masie
When I was deciding who I should select as the first guest poster for this blog, there was no question in my mind that it had to be Elliott Masie. I met Elliott through one of the Masie’s centers conferences (Learning 2010) and was immediately excited by the creative and innovative energy he brings to any situation. His influence on the field was what inspired me to think outside of Google and start this blog.
Too Many Learning and Training Rituals!
Like any field, we have our golden rituals in the world of learning and training. We design or facilitate certain activities because that is what we have always done... often without any evidence that the rituals “work”.When Sarah asked me to write a guest-blog, I wanted to pick a topic that would trigger some dialogue amongst learning colleagues – so let’s dive into the often backfiring world of ritual.Personally, I love to ditch the rituals. For example, when I start a class, going around the room drives me nuts. It takes way too much time... often the learners tune out after the first few introductions... some learners go on and on... and most people didn’t come to class to meet new friends. I have watched designers and instructors dedicate up to 30 minutes at the beginning of a class, assuming that this would build community, increase learner comfort and help surface diverse needs. But where is the evidence? I often just START, or hand out a map of learner interests or design some other way for people to dive into the content – and learn about each other as things move along.Learning objectives are important for us as learning professionals. But most learners gag on the language of a learning objective. Sure, they want to know what they will be able to do – so, let’s check to see if learning objectives achieve the objective of learner clarity. If you do, you might dramatically reformat the first moments of an elearning module or classroom experience.As an instructional designer, I spend a lot of time thinking about Scope and Sequence of content. Yet, most designers have a ritualistic flow of content. They tend to build the “learning story” in the same basic sequence. What about blowing up the default and trying to teach backwards. Start at the end with the outcome and work backwards. Or, perhaps enable our learners to map their own pathway through the content.Failure is another ritual that I would like to rant about. Or, to be accurate, our avoidance of Failure as a design element. Most of our courses and modules are guaranteed to result in a learner “passing” or succeeding. Yet, we know that some of our best learning happens when we fail our way forward. Imagine how bored we would be if we got 100% on a video game the first time out. Yet, that is exactly how we build our learning programs. What if we said – “Most people have to take this a few times before they pass – but it will be very powerful when you gain this competency!” Why not? Our ritual is to make it easier and to avoid the stigma of failure!Why not challenge more of our design assumptions? Sure, our learners often find comfort in a familiar “form factor”. But, if we were to take an evidence based approach to design – trying several radically different formats, flows, structures and new rituals – and gathering feedback and evidence about their relative format – we would be surprised.Each time I blow up a learning ritual, I am shocked at how welcome it is from the students’ point of view. More than 20 years ago, I advocated that Certified Training Centers for IT education put their computers along the walls of the room rather than facing forward to watch the trainer. It was amazing how this shift in classroom design resulted in immediate gains in collaboration and changed trainer behaviors.As we explore more short format media learning assets, drill into the world of search based knowledge acquisition, explore video presence for synchronous experiences and stretch our models of coaching and mentoring – it is a great time to consider shifting our old rituals!It will keep us on our toes, it can add stimulation to our learners and the evidence based approach will better align us with business efficiencies and process improvement.So, what is your favorite or most despised learning ritual?
Too Many Learning and Training Rituals!
- Let’s go around and have everyone introduce themselves and say one sentence about their current projects.
- Always begin with a statement of learning objectives, in the form of what the learner will be able to do by the end of the class.
- Inside of an e-learning class, present a screen of new information, then test for short term memory, reinforcing or remediating based on the learner response.
- During a webinar, ask a polling question to get the learners engaged (or check to see if they are still awake)
- Wear a nametag at a conference, so people can start a conversation with you.
- Start with concept, move to procedures and then give multiple examples.
- Send participants in a leadership program a set of reading materials before the class, calling it “pre-work”
- Webinars are about 55 minutes, classes are ½ day, 1 day or multi-days, e-learning modules are usually about 20 minutes long.
- Distribute short (and inexpensive) evaluations to everyone in the learning experience.
Like any field, we have our golden rituals in the world of learning and training. We design or facilitate certain activities because that is what we have always done... often without any evidence that the rituals “work”.When Sarah asked me to write a guest-blog, I wanted to pick a topic that would trigger some dialogue amongst learning colleagues – so let’s dive into the often backfiring world of ritual.Personally, I love to ditch the rituals. For example, when I start a class, going around the room drives me nuts. It takes way too much time... often the learners tune out after the first few introductions... some learners go on and on... and most people didn’t come to class to meet new friends. I have watched designers and instructors dedicate up to 30 minutes at the beginning of a class, assuming that this would build community, increase learner comfort and help surface diverse needs. But where is the evidence? I often just START, or hand out a map of learner interests or design some other way for people to dive into the content – and learn about each other as things move along.Learning objectives are important for us as learning professionals. But most learners gag on the language of a learning objective. Sure, they want to know what they will be able to do – so, let’s check to see if learning objectives achieve the objective of learner clarity. If you do, you might dramatically reformat the first moments of an elearning module or classroom experience.As an instructional designer, I spend a lot of time thinking about Scope and Sequence of content. Yet, most designers have a ritualistic flow of content. They tend to build the “learning story” in the same basic sequence. What about blowing up the default and trying to teach backwards. Start at the end with the outcome and work backwards. Or, perhaps enable our learners to map their own pathway through the content.Failure is another ritual that I would like to rant about. Or, to be accurate, our avoidance of Failure as a design element. Most of our courses and modules are guaranteed to result in a learner “passing” or succeeding. Yet, we know that some of our best learning happens when we fail our way forward. Imagine how bored we would be if we got 100% on a video game the first time out. Yet, that is exactly how we build our learning programs. What if we said – “Most people have to take this a few times before they pass – but it will be very powerful when you gain this competency!” Why not? Our ritual is to make it easier and to avoid the stigma of failure!Why not challenge more of our design assumptions? Sure, our learners often find comfort in a familiar “form factor”. But, if we were to take an evidence based approach to design – trying several radically different formats, flows, structures and new rituals – and gathering feedback and evidence about their relative format – we would be surprised.Each time I blow up a learning ritual, I am shocked at how welcome it is from the students’ point of view. More than 20 years ago, I advocated that Certified Training Centers for IT education put their computers along the walls of the room rather than facing forward to watch the trainer. It was amazing how this shift in classroom design resulted in immediate gains in collaboration and changed trainer behaviors.As we explore more short format media learning assets, drill into the world of search based knowledge acquisition, explore video presence for synchronous experiences and stretch our models of coaching and mentoring – it is a great time to consider shifting our old rituals!It will keep us on our toes, it can add stimulation to our learners and the evidence based approach will better align us with business efficiencies and process improvement.So, what is your favorite or most despised learning ritual?
Elliott Masie is the Chair of the Learning CONSORTUIM and CEO of The MASIE Center. He is an analyst, organizer, researcher and author for the past 30 years in the learning and performance field. His contact info is www.masie.com and emasie@masie.com blog: trends.masie.com
Elliott and I at Learning 2010
